


A Walking Corpse, And Nothing More

by PunnyMints



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd Needs a Hug, F/M, One Shot, Possessive Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, Sad Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, So much angst, my golden goth emo prince boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24120220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunnyMints/pseuds/PunnyMints
Summary: Byleth comes to Dimitri to try and find some hint of the old prince she once knew. Dimitri is in a state of agony and in a fit of rage, paranoid at the thought of eyes at every corner and ghostly hands clawing at him,
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	A Walking Corpse, And Nothing More

**Author's Note:**

> This spoils past Chapter 11, so if you haven't played up to that point please come back later :)

Was that just the chill of the wind, or was that Dedue’s cold fingers digging into his skin? Dimitri hissed and moved his arm back under his cape, tugging his sleeves down to his wrists.

_You let me die. You let me die. You let me die._ Dedue’s voice chanted in a lamented cry. _My prince, I served you well, and you repay me by letting me slip into the world beyond._

“I will satisfy this,” Dimitri choked out his promise, the one he had been repeating over and over again. “I’ll crush her skull with my own two hands, Dedue-“

_That isn’t good enough, that will never be good enough, you will never be good enough-_

The prince growled. “Dedue, I am going to avenge you, I swear to it.” He rolled his fingers into fists, relishing the numbness of his nails digging into his palms. A cold air blew through the crumbling chapel wall that Gilbert and the few remaining residents of the former school had tried to patch up. “And my family.”

At the mention of his family, Dimitri heard the echoes of his stepmother screaming her last breath. “ _No! Please!”_ Dimitri covered his ears, wincing and letting a cry escape his clenched jaw. Her cries bounced off the cathedral walls, wailing. _“Dimitri! Please!”_

“Mother!” Dimitri’s hands wrapped into his blond hair. “Mother, I’ll do it, I promise-“

_“You didn’t do it sooner! How could you have done this to me? You left me for dead!”_ Her angushed cries became louder. Louder still. _“You are no son of mine!”_

“No, no, Mother, I am, I’ll prove it!” Dimitri spun around to face where his mother’s voice was resonating from. Was it behind him? In his head? No, she was here, she had to be, why else was Dimitri doing what he was doing? He needed Edlegard’s head on a silver platter to sasiate them, to offer them. The Destroyer of Fodhlan would be no more, and all of you will be pleased-“

_“Can you say for certain?”_ The king’s voice boomed over the whole cathedral, and Dimitri stumbled, catching himself on his hands and knees. _“Will out desire for blood silence our protests? Will you be rid of us?!”_

“It will, I know it will!” Dimitri screamed, elbows buckling as his forehead pressed into the cold stone floor. “You will leave me and stop haunting me, and Edelgard will be dead!” He trembled, as much as he would have hated to admit, the fur of his cape dripping around him and brushing the freshly scrubbed floor. He remembered coming here since Byleth had disappeared, since Rhea had dropped of the face of the earth. “My will is to bring you her corpse! Let the Emperess be no more, or I shall die trying! One of us shall be dead by the end of this war!”

For a moment, the silence was heavy.

 _“Dead!”_ The voices united as one. _“Dead! Dead! Dead! Dead!”_ The townspeople, the soldiers he slaughtered, the thieves he murdered, his fallen comrades, Dedue and his mother and father and brother-

“Dimitri.” A very live voice from a very living person said softly. The voices quelled, but his heartbeat stayed loud. It pounded to the chant. The voice was almost a welcome one compared to the former ghosts from a moment ago.

_Dead. Dead. Dead._

Dimitri huffed, back curling in an effort to take in air. He felt the sweat beading on his forehead, but child were running rampant in his haunted bones.

Byleth’s footsteps were soft across the floor, but not ones without intent. The steps paused at the last pew, and Dimitri could see her shadow cast across the floor from the candles she had lit with, he assumed, a flick of her fingers.

“Why are you here?” His voice gave an edge to a dogs’, growling intensely. His elbows flexed as he tried to push himself back up. He faltered, strength in his arms tightening for a second. “You should be preparing to take Edelgard’s Imperial Palace.” Dimitri hissed as his breath caught in his constrained throat. “Didn’t I tell you to train with Gilbert?”

“You did. And I did so. But Gilbert needs breaks, and I need to check on you.” Byleth walked around his form, crumpled on the floor, her green eyes almost glowing as she studied him. “I miss you.”

Dimitri felt his chest convulse. He felt his head pound, and his breath constricted with a strained chuckle. Byleth’s brows creased, but she said nothing as Dimitri reared back on his knees, laughing, eyes staring blankly at the starless sky above. “What is there to miss, Professor?” He gasped out between elated giggles. He looked at her, eyes blank in an unsettling way, but lips pressed into a sadistic smile. “A young prince, ready to make the world a better place? Hoping to one day see the lands remain at peace? Naïve and joyful and inexperienced.” He tilted his head back down to the ground, but he could still feel Byleth’s eyes on him. Dimitri exhaled a shaky breath, the maddening euphoria of barbarous joys leaving with it.

For just a second, all was quiet.

Dimitri heard the rustle of fabric as the professor moved her coat tails aside and squatted down, eyes searching his face. “You weren’t naïve, Dimitri. None of us… none of us could have known.” Byleth sat down fully next to him, curling her knees to her chest and pressing her cheek on her knees. She observed him, gaze attentive on his face. “Rhea didn’t.”

“Heh.” Bitterness soaked Dimitri’s tone as he leaned back on his knees again, glancing again at the lack of ceiling. “Rhea is dead.”

_Dead. Dead. Dead._

Dimitri’s fist pounded against the ground next to him, lips sputtering to the rhythm: “Dead, dead, like everyone else. I am death. Anything I am near is as good as gone. I am a destroyer-“ His voice seized. “But I am not Edelgard-“

“Do you hear yourself?” Byleth’s cheek stayed against her knees and her voice remained soft, not at all wavering at his bitterness. “You’re so anxious to cause her destruction, but you’re so worried about bringing us the same.” Dimitri flickered his eye over, and for a moment was bewitched by the calm presence her eyes drenched him with.

She gently picked up her head and extended her fingers to his face, thumb grazing over his eyepatch. “Dimitri, you are not a monster, and I think that deep down, there’s a little bit of you in your soul that knows it.”

A cool shiver wavered in him, sparking from her fingers, and running to his pounding heart. It stopped for a second- everything. The rebellion, the war, the voices-

_The voices. They will not stop until Edelgard is dead. Dead. Dead. Kill her, give her dead on a platter, then they will be quiet, one of you will be dead by the end of this war, dead, dead, dead, deaddeaddead-_

Dimitri’s hand grasped Byleth’s in a motion too quick for her to detect. Finally, her eyes filled with what Dimitri recognized as hurt. Byleth’s fingers curled up, but she did not look away.

He stood, pulling her hand up, watching as Byleth stood with him, not fighting his grasp. “I have no soul.”

Byleth’s brows creased again. Her lips drew into a pressed line. “I refuse to believe that.”

His words babbled up with a laughing fit, similar to the one from earlier. Dimitri tossed his head back. “You’ll be disappointed, I’m afraid.” Dimitri looked back at her, cold eyes steeling against Byleth’s gaze.

She didn’t look away. She stepped in closer, their noses inches away from one another. “I don’t think so, Dimitri.” Her voice had lowered, but the hurt was gone. All that remained was gentleness.

Dimitri’s heart melted for a second, his hand jerking away from her wrist. He started at her, wide eyed, trying to recover from her shameless show of kindness. Byleth did not move again, simply watching him.

His heartbeat raised again, mind blurry, Dedue’s voice reminiscing in his ears. _She’s the best professor you could ask for, or even the best friend._ Dimitri shook his head. No. That was a memory. Dedue didn’t care about her now. Dedue wanted revenge. He wanted his death to not be in vain.

“You could have saved Dedue.” Dimitri spat. “But you didn’t.”

Byleth’s eyes widened in the candlelight for a moment. Dimitri’s heart felt- no, it started to feel. But he wouldn’t allow it. Edelgard first. Everything else later.

The fallen prince turned and hurried out, seeking refuge outside in the cold winds of Garreg Mach.

**Author's Note:**

> I HAVEN'T GOTTEN PAST CHAPTER 14 BUT I'VE SUNK LIKE 32 HOURS INTO THE GAME AND I'M DESPERATE TO FINISH PLEASE ENJOY I LOVE MY SAD EMO PRINCE :(


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